Sheet dispensing unit



Oct. 8, 1957 M. M. MARCUSE SHEET DISPENSING UNIT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 8. 1953 INVENTOR MosesMMaficase ATTORNEYS Oct. 8, 1957 M. M. MARCUSE 2,809,082

SHEET DISPENSING UNIT Filed Jan. 8, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR 1' Moses MMaficase ATTOR EYS fication.

United States SHEET DISPENSING UNIT Moses M. Marcuse, New York, N. Y., assignor to West Disinfecting Company, a corporation of ew .torlr This invention relates to dispensing units, more particularly for dispensing sheets of toweling from a con tinuous web of zig-zag folded paper arranged in a substantially rectangular block.

While sheet material such as paper toweling, dispensed from a roll in a cabinet, is useful in establishments with but few wash rooms where an attendant is readily available to supply a new roll upon exhaustion, the use of such rolls has serious limitations in large establishments with many wash rooms to be serviced generally only once a day in the tour of a single attendant. For in many cases, the remaining substantial amount of paper on a roll would either have to be wasted upon replacement with a fresh roll or, later in the day, the roll would be completely spent and no paper available until the next day.

7 Where sheet dispensing units containing zig-zag folded paper toweling are refilled in such manner that the newly added paper toweling is first removed after each filling,

it is apparent that the older paper remaining in the unit would gradually dry out and deteriorate. V p

it is accordingly among the objects of the invention to provide adispensing unit for zig-zag folded paper which is neat and need not be much more bulky than the volume .of paper-accommodated therein, which has but few, simple parts not likely to become out of order and which lends itself to mass production manufacture at relatively low cost, which unit may readily and expeditiously be replenished without discarding any remaining paper and without need for re-threading through the feed rollers after the initial loading, and which may readily be operated to deliver any desired length of paper toweling without likelihood of jamming of such toweling as it is fed from the unit and with assurance that the paper remaining in the unit will be dispensed before the newly added paper.

Referring now to the drawings in which are shown one or more of various possible embodiments of the several features of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a dispensing unit,

Fig. 2 is'a transverse sectional View taken along line 22 of Fig. 1, a

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of another embodiment-of the invention, Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional View of still anothe embodiment,

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken along lines 55 of Fig. 4 and v .Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 5 of a modi- Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing, the preferred embodiment of the dispensing unit shown, desirably comprises a substantially rectangular container 11 which may be secured to a convenient wall, post or par tent 2,889,082 Patented Oct. 8, 1957 sertion of a substantially rectangular block 16 of zig-zag folded paper toweling.

A substantially L-shaped cover member 17, which serves to close the open top and front of the container, is pivotally mounted at the rear of its top wall portion 18 between the side walls 14 as at 19 near the rear of their upper edges. The top portion 18 of the cover member is curved as at 28 at its junction with its front portion 21, the lower edge 22 of which, when the cover is in closed position will be substantially aligned with floor 13. The floor 13 desirably has an upturned flange 23 at its outer edge which is spaced from the bottom edge 22 of front portion 21 of the closed cover 17, thus to define dispensing opening 24.

Positioned in the container between the side walls 14 and spaced therefrom are a pair of upstanding guide walls 26 between which the block 16 of zig-zag folded paper is accommodated in the container.

Extending transversely across the container adjacent the dispensing opening 24 is a feed roller 28 mounted on a shaft 29 which desirably is rotatably mounted at its ends in the guide walls 26.

Associated with the feed roller 28 and extending parallel thereto is a pressure roller 31 mounted on a shaft 32, the ends of which extend through transversely aligned slots 33 in guide walls 26. The pressure roller is normally urged against the feed roller by suitable springs (not shown) so that paper between such rollers may be advanced by rotation of said feed roller. The feed roller may be rotated desirably by drive mechanism (not shown) of the type disclosed in the patent to Wooster No. 2,411,- 917 which provides for rotation of such feed roller only when a handle 34 is turned and which precludes withdrawal of toweling by a direct pull thereon. The drive mechanism may be positioned in a housing 35 located between a pair of adjacent walls 14 and 26, the duplicate housing at the opposite end being empty and provided merely for symmetry.

In order to ensure that the web of paper advanced by the rollers 28 and 31 will move out of the dispensing opening 24, a curved deflector plate 38 positioned in the container adjacent the nip 39 of rollers 28, 31 serves as a guide for the web of paper from said rollers to the dispensing opening 24.

Means are provided to ensure that only a single layer of the zig-zag folded paper will be drawn at one time from the block 16 to and through rollers 28 and 31. As shown in Fig. 1, such means desirably comprises a pair of spaced supporting members 41 and 42 positioned respectively adjacent the back wall 12 and the front wall 21 and extending transversely across the container.

Although the supporting members may be formed in any suitable manner, in the embodiment herein shown, a substantially rectangular section of suitable sheet metal is reversely bent as at 44 to form a rear wall 45 positioned adjacent the back wall 12 of the container with the upper edge thereof bent inwardly to form a flange defining the supporting member 41. The metal sheet is also reversely bent upward as at 47 to provide a curved portion 48 which extends from back of roller 28 to the front wall 21, the upper edge of such curved member being inwardly bent as at 49 also to form a flange defining the supporting member 42. As shown, the height of the curved member which extends over both of the rollers 28 and 31 is greater than that of the Wall 45 so that the block 16 of paper is supported on such flanges at an incline, as shown.

The paper block as it rests in the casing is thus of rhomboid shape, almost the entire length of its bottom extending obliquely across the opening between flanges 41 and 42, which latter extend inwardly but little beyond the respective folds of the paper block. The casing is of front wall 89. The roller 109 is a pressure roller normally urged against feed roller 108 which may be rotated by handle 111 through mechanism similar to that shown in the patent to Wooster above referred to.

To load the unit shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the hopper 95 is pivoted outwardly, as shown, and a block of zig-zag folded paper is positioned therein with the bottom-most folded edges thereof resting on inclined ledges 104 and 98 adjacent the inturned flanges 102 and front wall 96 of the hopper respectively.

As portions of the block of paper will be supported by protuberances 115 and 116, only a portion of the weight of such block will be carried by members 98 and 104.

A span of paper is drawn from the bottom of the block of paper, passed through opening 103, around curved wall 108, upwardly and around roller 107 and thence between pressure roller 109 andfeed roller 108 through dispensing outlet 92 out of the container. When the unit has thus been loaded, the hopper is pivoted inwardly and locked in such closed position. In the operation of the unit, the feed roller 108 is rotated by handle 111 to draw paper from the block in the hopper first from one folded edge and then from the other folded edge, as heretofore described. Consequently, there is no likelihood of jamming of the paper.

As the operating handle 111 and the outlet 92 of the unit shown in Figs. 4 and 5 may be approximately four feet above the floor, the unit is convenient to operate and by reason of its large volume need only be serviced at infrequent intervals.

The embodiment of Fig. 6 is externally similar to that of Fig. 4 but the paper is dispensed therein from the top rather than from the bottom of the tall stack or block of zig-zag folded paper.

The construction of Fig. 6 will be evident from that of Figs. 4 and 5, corresponding parts being designated by the same reference numeral primed.

Since the paper is fed from the top of the block or stack, there is no danger of jamming due to the weight of paper being supported, for which reason the protuberances 115, 116 are not required in this embodiment. The paper is fed directly from the top of the block or stack about the roller 107.

While in the embodiment of Figs. 4 and 5, the supply of paper is replenished by introducing further paper from the top of the hopper, it is replenished in the embodiment of Fig. 6 by introduction from the bottom.

In the embodiment of Fig. 6, as in that of Figs. 4 and 5, it is noted that the paper is consumed in the order in which it is introduced in the hopper.

The units herein shown and described may be recharged expeditiously without waste and without unloading the paper remaining in the container. Thus it is merely necessary to place a drop of glue or other adhesive on the topmost sheet of the block in the unit, as shown at 112 in Fig. l, and then press thereagainst the bottommost sheet of a new block, or if desired, the topmost sheet of the block in the unit may be connected to the bottom-most sheet of the new block by pressure sensitive tape.

It will be understood that where desired, instead of the single sheet as specified throughout, a double-ply of sheet may be dispensed.

As many changes could be made in the above construction, and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A dispensing unit for a continuous length of zig-zag folded toweling comprising a substantially rectangular container for holding a block of such toweling, a substantially rectangular sheet bent at one edge to form a rear wall positioned adjacent the back wall of the container with the upper edge of said rear wall being inwardly bent to define one of said supporting ledges, the opposed edge of said sheetbeing upwardly and outwardly curved with theupper edge of said curved portion being inwardly bent to define the other supporting ledge, said container having a back wall, a front wall and a bottom wall and having a dispensing outlet adjacent the lower edge of said front wall, a pair of spaced supporting means positioned respectively adjusted opposed walls of said container and extending transversely therealong for supporting substantially only the bottom-most opposed folded edges of such block of zig-zag folded toweling, said supporting means comprises a pair of ledges spaced from the bottom wall and positioned adjacent the back wall and front wall respectively, a substantially rectangular sheet bent at one edge to form a rear wall positioned adjacent the back wall of the container with the upper edge of said rear wall being inwardly bent to define one of said supporting ledges, the opposed edge of said sheet being upwardly and outwardly curved with the upper edge of said curved portion being inwardly bent to define the other supporting ledge, and means affording a passageway for drawing the bottom-most layer of toweling from such block through the space between said supporting means and thence through said outlet.

2. A dispensing unit for a continuous length of zig-zag folded toweling comprising a substantially rectangular container for holding a block of such toweling said container having a back wall, a front wall and a bottom wall, a dispensing outlet at the bottom of said container adjacent the lower edge of said front wall, means for drawing the toweling from the block comprises a pair of rollers positioned adjacent said dispensing outlet, means positioned respectively adjacent opposed walls of said con tainer and extending transversely therealong for supporting substantially only the bottom-most opposed folded edges of said block of zig-zag folded toweling, a substantially rectangular carrier positioned in said container bent at one edge to form a rear wall positioned adjacent the back wall of said container with the upper edge of said rear wall being inwardly bent to define one of said supporting members, the opposed edge of said sheet being upwardly and outwardly curved over said rollers, with the upper edge of said curved portion being inwardly bent to define the other supporting member, said curved portion having an opening through which paper from said block may be threaded between said rollers to be discharged by said rollers.

3. The combination set forth in claim 2 in which said carrier is of sheet metal and is supported by said bottom wall.

4. A dispensing unit comprising a substantially rectangular container having side walls, a rear wall, a top.

Wall and a front wall structure, the latter extending only at the upper portion of the container, affording an open rectangular cavity therebelow, a hopper having a substantially rectangular front wall pivoted at its lower edge to near the front of the bottom wall, said hopper accommodating a block of zig-zag folded sheet material therein, said hopper having downwardly and inwardly inclined bottom ledges supporting the block of sheet material and presenting an outlet therebetween, guide means extending to the rear of the hopper for feeding the sheet material from the bottom thereof thence upward along the rear of the container, and a guide roller near the top of of the sheet material for guiding the same to the transverse feed rollers adjacent the front wall, the hopper having transverse protuberances extending obliquely downwardly and inwardly, the protuberances at the front wall being at level intervening between those at the rear of the hopper, and transverse feeding rollers at the top of said container adjacent the front wall structure for ad- ,vancing ,sheetrnaterial fronn one end .of the block, said front presenting a dispensing opening therethrongh.

i E 5 mmb at p m ti i 91919199 n Whie ihe hopper has upright flanges .extendin g inward florn the .rear portion thereof and in whieh the guide rearward of :the bottom of the hopper is a rearwardly and upwardly unwed sheet .nnitary With the rea r olpliqiie ledge.

fi: A. defini g i 9 11 3 11 Ta n a ly tang llar eontainer having sidewalls, e rear vv alL a top wall and :a front wall structure, the latter. extending only at the .npper portion of the Container, afio rding' an open reetangnlar eavity therebelovv, a hopper having a substantially. rectangular 1 6111 wall pivoted at its lower edge tonear the front of the bottorn wall, said hopper accommodating a block of higez'ag folded Sheet material therein, and transverse feeding 1 116 3 atthe itdplof said container adjacent the 11 11 wgu structure ior advancing sheet i'nja teri al frbin one end'of the: block, said front wall presenting .a dispensing opening .therethrough, and a roller nearfl'the top. offthe container rearward of the feeding rollers guiding .the sheet materialdirectly from the upper 611 ,61 the block to said feeding rollers.

References Cited in the file of this patent U ITE S E PAT Fonda Nov. 14, Oehr ing Dec. 6, Wheeler. j May 6, Parsons Nov. 2, Marcuse Feb. 7, Borronghs Sept. 25, Steiner Apr. 29, Belenson Mar. 15, Schwartz May 24, Winter -2 Jan. 7, Kettles Sept. 7, Kettles 2 Sept. 7, Steiner May 24, BoeX Mar. 14, Steiner Aug. 15, Wooster Dec. 3, 

